There’s a reason why Apple uses 30 pin dock connectors and a ton of adapters instead of integrating ports right into the devices. Even if you ignore the fact that VGA/D-SUB, component, and composite cable connectors are actually thicker than these devices themselves, an iPad would look mighty peculiar once you put four different video outputs, a USB port, SD slot, charging port, line-out, line-in, mic-in, power-out, data-in etc ports on it.That’s why it’s not surprising that other tablet manufacturers are doing the same thing and creating their own 30 pin systems. Asus does it, and Samsung does it. I bought that USB Connection Kit to use with my new Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, so read on for a review.

There’s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to USB on mobile devices. There are people in the world who expect to be able to connect absolutely everything with a USB plug to anything that has a USB port and have it work, even if that logic includes connecting a keyboard to the USB memory slot of a car stereo and expecting to control the car with the arrow keys. I’ve previously mentioned a bunch of people I have little respect for who blabbered on about the iPad’s uses in education at a conference while listing “lack of USB port” as a negative without saying exactly what it is they want to do. Those are the kinds of people with keyboards connected to their car stereos. The iPad has USB capabilities, though through an adapter. By capabilities I mean to transfer photos and videos off storage, connecting keyboards, connection USB audio devices, and connecting USB MIDI devices. Universal Mass Storage drivers, or “flashdrive mode” if you want, is not a requirement in order to call it a USB port. A USB charger still has a USB port even if it’s only for power, and iOS doesn’t support UMS by default.

Android however, does. That’s because the open file/folder based file system it uses internally is a lot more compatible with UMS than what iOS uses (not that Apple couldn’t get around it if it wanted to). However the “too many ports” problem still exists with Android, which is why many manufacturers also only do USB via adapters. On my 7-inch device that makes even more sense than it does on 10.1-inch tablets. The USB Connection Kit is Samsung’s external solution, and much like Apple’s kit it has a 30 pin to USB adapter and a 30 pin to SD adapter. Both come in the same box, and both are compatible with the Honeycomb-generation Galaxy Tabs (and presumable future tablets). No first generation Tabs, unfortunately.

To start off with what it does do, it does allow you to connect various storage devices to the Tabs. Unless you have a powered external hard drive or use a powered USB hub in between though, you will be limited to low power storage devices like flashdrives and memory cards. What you can connect depends on how much power that specific device draws, and while keyboard, mice and flashdrives/cards clock in somewhere around 50mA, external USB powered harddrives require 5-700mA. While Samsung didn’t bother to mention it on the specifications page for this kit, I’m guessing it’s around 50-90mA (I’ll justify that later). So forget about “maybe mine will work” when it comes to external hard drives that don’t have AC power.

Once connected, you can access your files from a file manager. My 7.0 Plus came with one installed, and it was perfectly capable of accessing the drives I connected (as it should). While that’s great for connecting drives with e.g. documents or video files on them, you can forget about having any sort of equivalent of the iPad’s photo import feature. When you plug in a drive or card on the iPad, it will launch the Photos app and give you a quick overview over all the photos and videos on the device, and quick and easy tools to import them. I use that feature a lot, and I can’t imagine how much extra time it would take me to fool around with a file/folder based file manager just to import photos. That’s what I have to do on a PC, and trust me, it is by no means faster in any way. Samsung needs a similar system, but obviously make it prompt you whether you want to open that feature or not so it doesn’t override the file manager functionality or open apps when you don’t want to.

Speaking of incompatibility though, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus was unable to read video files from my Canon HS300 digital camera, of which the memory card I put in had plenty. With multiple video players installed thanks to Samsung’s “install ALL the bloatware” that’s a bit ridiculous, especially when the iPad – which is infamous for supporting few video formats natively – can not only import and play the files but edit them with iMovie. I’m all for having full UMS support, but being better than the competition is a bit more effective if you add features instead of replacing features. The bottom line here is that if you’re looking for a tablet as a photography accessory on a consumer level, a Galaxy Tab with this thing is a pretty useless in comparison. Then again, you can access flashdrives and memory cards without somewhat convoluted methods like the AirStash. As with so many things in life – and consumer electronics in particular – there’s no universally best solution, it all depends on usage.

Moving on to secondary features, that’s another area where this kit falls a bit short. Like on the iPad you can connect USB keyboards, and since Android also has mouse support those work too. Both my mouse and keyboard for my computer are wireless with those tiny adapters that you plug in, and those both worked perfectly. They worked instantly, too, unlike Windows’ “new hardware detected, please wait while I looked online for how to read this as a keyboard”. With audio devices, however, this kit failed quite miserably. The first one I plugged in caused the tab to complain that a “high powered USB device” had been inserted. This is how I know that the adapters can’t draw as much as 100mA, as that’s what the iPad Camera Connection Kit does, and it can use the exact same device just fine. It was more willing to power the second USB audio device I plugged in though, with LEDs lighting up as they should and the giant volume knob on the USB audio card controlling the volume on the Tab just fine. Then I plugged in my headphones and started playing some music however, and discovered that it might seem like it works, but the audio still comes out the tablet speakers. No clue how you fix that, if you even can. Works fine on the iPad, so another strike against the Samsung kit on this one.

As for MIDI support, I didn’t even bother trying that one. No Garage Band and no Music Studio means no use for it, really. Well, there are of course other music apps, but I couldn’t find anyone that mentioned USB MIDI support.

Naturally I also had to try the gamepad support built into Android 3.1 and above. There are videos of people doing that with the XOOM on YouTube, and the EEE Pad Transformer has even been seen advertising itself by showing off that feature. Long story short, nope. Doesn’t work. Why? I have no clue. I tried my PS3 controller and it wouldn’t work at all. I even tried an app that promises to improve support for it, but even though it could see the controller, it didn’t work. Might be something Samsung did – or didn’t do – but the result is the same. If you want to go less official ways to get it working, you need to root your device, and that shouldn’t be necessary on an official accessory. Bad Samsung.

When you sum all that up, you’re basically left with a USB Universal Mass Storage adapter. It has no easy to use photo importer and can’t read files from the same cameras as the iPad anyways, so it’s not exactly winning any prizes in that regard. USB audio devices don’t work properly, USB gamepads don’t work properly, and the power output is too low to use many devices that despite what Samsung says are low power. Consider me underwhelmed. UMS in itself isn’t bad though, and at least it will let me escape MTP mode that the Tab likes connecting to my PC with. Add a high speed USB drive to the mix and file transfer – especially for things like HD video – really benefits from this accessory. I still wish they had bothered doing more with it, though. The kit is $30 in the US, and from what I’ve seen, that roughly translates to “whatever the iPad kit costs” in other countries.

About the Author

Andreas Ødegård was an associate editor at Pocketables. He's more interested in aftermarket (and user created) software and hardware than chasing the latest gadgets and tends to stick with his choice of device for a long time as a result of that. Currently that includes an iPad mini and a Samsung Galaxy S II.

Vi

Now, when are we going to see 3G USB Adapters for a wireless signal on a WIFI only Tablet?

Customer support at Samsung told me the adaptor only works for the 10.1 Model….
(they didn’t seem that knowledgeable though)
Are you are saying this worked on the 7.0 Plus out of the Box? (but only as a USB Universal Mass Storage adapter)?

All the features described in the article are based on testing on the 7.0 Plus. Samsung’s own pages also list the 7.0 Plus in “great for…” or what the section is called when you look at the adapter set on their site. Not all of Samsung’s customer representatives should be allowed to keep their job though. You should see the conversation I just had with one of them on Twitter (well you can if you look up Cptnodegard there), trying to get an answer to whether the 7.0 Plus supports SDXC or not. The guy found out I was in Norway and refused to answer questions that wasn’t about Samsung US. Told him three times that my Tab was from the US before he hesitantly asked for the model number, before a more intelligent worker just chimed in with a simple “no it doesn’t”.

I’m guessing that what has happened here is that the person you talked to didn’t understand the difference between the Galaxy Tab 7.0 and the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Almost can’t blame him/her. That’s what happens when you name stuff so stupidly xD

JT

Right, I was thinking since the 7.0 was on Gingerbread… it shouldn’t work.
But since the 7.0 Plus was on Honeycomb (along with the 8.9 and 10.1) then i thought it should work… especially since its the same 30-pin adapter.

“Samsung’s own pages also list the 7.0 Plus in “great for…” or what the section is called when you look at the adapter set on their site.”

What do you mean by “only USB UMS”? UMS is the most common system for connecting any storage device, be it a hard drive or a MP3 player. That being said, there might be other considerations, such as file system. It also wouldn’t read my 500GB 2.5″ hard drive even if I powered it, which might be due to a limit of how large drives it can handle. An MP3 player I had around connected just fine though. If you have another tablet, phone etc that can connect with UMS/MSC (not MTP I would assume) it should work just fine. I used a cable with 2x USB going into 1x mini-USB. They often come with those 2.5″ hard drives so that you have the option to power it using two USB ports instead of one if necessary. Plugged one into the adapter, one into my iPad’s charger:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/510000/IMG_8500.JPG

As for “other devices” it works with mouse and keyboard. Think the box also says something about Samsung printers

And you said:
“you’re basically left with a USB Universal Mass Storage adapter…USB audio devices don’t work properly, USB gamepads don’t work properly, and the power output is too low to use many devices that despite what Samsung says are low power. Consider me underwhelmed”

I said that because most people would use Bluetooth for mouse and keyboard, so “basically” (<- that word is key) you're left with a UMS adapter, compared to the iPad where I've used a similar adapter both for USB audio and to interface music apps with instruments.
Good news is that mouse and keyboard works :D

JT

Tech Support:

Jacob: Hi, thanks for reaching out to Samsung tech support. How can I help you today?
JT: I had a question about the 7.0 Plus Tablet
Jacob: Please go ahead with your questions.
JT: The other day i asked about:
JT: http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-tab-accessories/EPL-1PL0BEGSTA
JT: and the person told me it only works on the 10.1 tablet
JT: But now i noticed at the bottom of the screen it says:”Works great with….”
JT: and has 8.9 and 7.0 Plus tablets listed
JT: So, does it work or doesn’t it work?
Jacob: I understand that you wan to purchase USB adapter for your 7.0 Plus Tablet. Is that correct?
JT: If it will allow me to do USB host, then i am interested
Jacob: Okay.
Jacob: Yes you can purchase EPL-1PL0BEGSTA USB adapter for your 7.0 plus tablet.
JT: And does it allow all USB hosting? or only USB Universal Mass Storage
Jacob: Yes it allows only Universal Mass Storage devices.
JT: The item says:
JT: Insert a USB mouse or keyboard to improve enterprise efficiency at the office or at home. Simply connect a USB memory stick or USB cable from compatible devices to the USB port on the adapter and then insert the adapter into your Tab.
JT: But you are saying that for the 7.0 Plus, it only does Universal Mass Storage?
Jacob: I am sorry for the typo.
Jacob: You can use the USB adapter to connect to USB mouse and keyboard.
Jacob: I don’t mean to rush you, but we haven’t had a response from you. Are we still connected?
JT: Yes
JT: Someone told me that the 7.0 plus only worked as a USB Universal Mass Storage…
Jacob: Can I help you with anything else?
JT: and they couldn’t get a mouse to work
JT: or keyboard
Jacob: Please give me a moment while I get the information for you.
Jacob: Thank you for your time.
Jacob: I see that you can connect mouse and keyboard to the USB adapter.
JT: For the 7.0 Plus?
Jacob: Yes.
Jacob: You can connect.
JT: Thanks. That was all my questions.

Hehehehe yeah. I just talked to one of their people as well and he didnt seem to have much clue about anything. That’s what happens when you hire someone, give them a user manual and a phone and expect them to be experts

Charles

The connection kit, i just bought for my Galaxy tab P1000 is not connecting to my Tablet, there is no sign or indication that something is even coneected at all, please help

Doubt it would work. Either way, a portable 3g modem with wifi transmitter is going to be easier to get and use. It connects with 3g, and shares that connection over wifi. Newer phones often have the same functionality

Junior Ong

Nice infor. I am thinking of getting 7.7 however already get used to this stupid QWERT so planning to plug in a soft silicon type keyboard… that is the main reason till now still not getting a smart phone or tablet…

raj

Thanks For the Info!!!

wendy

Hi
I have galaxy 7 plus and want to connect usb convertor that allows me to put in usb 3g internet stick. will this kit allow me to do this?

I should have said i saw the question from raj with the response i doubt it would work, just wanted to know if anyone has tried it…does it work or not

wendy

sorry andreas i just saw your response. thanks will go for mifi instead

shalu

So p1000 can use otg usb cable or not?

Kaye

Hi..dunno if I would sound stupid or not but someone here is offerring me her keyboard dock for p1000 insisting it is compatible with my 7.0 PLUS….can u verify that? Please.

Thanks

Chris

I need a 7 inch tablet for a vacation with the family. I want to be able to put movies on a few flash/thumb drives then play them on the tablet so that I don’t blow out the tablet’s memory while trying to keep the kids entertained in airports. Can this be done on the Galaxy Tab with the connection kit?

Andreas Ødegård

I’m not sure how the P1000 (original Galaxy Tab) would do with this, but it will work for the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, the two most recent 7-inch Galaxy Tabs. You need to check the flash drives before heading off with them though, as there may be an issue with the power they drain. This depends on the drives

Biplab

where can i get an usb connector (model no.-EPL-1PLOBEGSTA) in india or from online shopping?

daniela

Hi.considering that the samsung connector does not work on p1000,is there a way to connect p1000 to a digital camera or to a usb pen drive? A possible usb host device download?tks

It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding
your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh
updates and will talk about this website with my Facebook group.
Talk soon!

LL

Thanks for the review. I just got my tab 2 and found out it can’t import video from my canon camera. I feel so stupid because they even offers the video editing app

Pankaj Kolhe

I am using ppp widget to unable 3g usb modem on samsung galaxy tab2 7 inch wifi only. I set the APN,username, passowrd. But I could not able to configure it for usb port. I am using huawei E 173 modem. When i select automatically it shows “using port ttyUSB0 for connection” in the log. I tried manually to select the port. But same log is coming. I tried ttyUSB0,1,2 also. Please help me. Also let me know step by step process to enable the internet by suing 3g usb modem on samsung galaxy tab2 7 inch wifi only.

William

Can you connect this to a usb to ethernet adapter and connect to a wired network?

William

for a galaxy tab 2 7.0

Pradeep

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab GT P1000, I am not getting its campatable USB connector to connect any usb, dongle, keyboard or any mouse. Please suggest any idea through which I could connect a USB device into my Tab.

This design is spectacular! You definitely know how to keep a
reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost.
..HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.

Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and
sources back to your website? My blog is in the exact same area of
interest as yours and my users would certainly benefit from a lot of the information you present here.
Please let me know if this okay with you. Cheers!

Does your website have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot you
an email. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might
be interested in hearing. Either way, great site
and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

Karl

The Android app “Grand Piano Pro” does have USB MIDI support.

andy

using the usb connection kit, will I be able to access internet connection using a usb internet stick?

dimitri

On samsung galaxy tab 3 7.0 is a micro USB connector that work only with Samsung kies and you cant use as USB OTG. The same connector works on samsung phones S2 or S3.
Do you think that the problem on tab 3 7.0 is because of the absence of a powered micro USB?

Israr Ahmed

r u sure this connection kit works with samsung galaxy tab 3 7.0

Enrique Torres Guerra

I have plugged in a radio/control for simulator purposes with an Rc heli simulator withouth any problems with my Samsung 10.1 inch note tablet. There´s also Caustic, a synth simulator that claims it can use a midi controller through a usb adapter. I also tried to use a Genius PC gamepad, but this one didn´t work at all.

¿Anónimo?

Hello! I am not exactly the kind of person who would connect a keyboard to a car through the music device (everyone knows it’s better to connect it through the air system! ;) ) but I lack some knowledge regarding all those especifications about this little device. Anyways, the issue is that I bought this thingy and worked really well connecting my 8gb pendrive device to my Galaxy note 10.1 tablet. Everything was magic and fun until it stopped working: now it only recognises the connector is connected to thw tablet, but it doesn’t recognise any pen drives or cards attached to it. I don’t really remember doing anything wrong, I havea 1 tera memory thing that I didn’t even try to attach because I thought it wouldn’t work (see? No keyboards to cars, no big memories to tablets either!) Do you by any means have a suggestion on what I could do to solve this? I’ve contacted Samsung but am still waiting the reaponse. And I would really like that it worked again because it is really useful to dump pics from the SD of the camera or edit documents from the pendrives before going printing them. Thank you!!

Dee

Can I please ask – I need a usb connentor for my samsung tab 3 7.0 as I need to access documents etc whilst out of wifi. Does this work or do you know of anything that is compatible?